An intertwined history
The Black Diamond Steamship Company (BDSC) was established in 1919 following World War I by J.E. Dockendorff. He sought to build a line of passenger and cargo ships.
Meanwhile, the American Diamond Lines was founded at about the same time by the United States Shipping Board (USSB). As noted in an earlier FreightWaves Classics article, the USSB was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act on September 7, 1916. Once the U.S. entered World War I, the...
The Luckenbach Steamship Company was a long-lived and successful U.S. shipping company. It survived two world wars, but did not survive the industry’s change to container ships…
The company was founded by Lewis Luckenbach in 1850, who began with a single tugboat in New York Harbor. Luckenbach found success by pioneering tug-and-barge transport of coal from Norfolk, Virginia. Norfolk was the primary port used to ship coal from the fields and mines of Virginia and West Virginia to cities and...
In 1910, James A. Farrell was an executive at U.S. Steel Corporation, which at that time was the second-largest steel company in the United States. Farrell determined that it would be more cost-effective for U.S. Steel to own its own fleet of freighters to transport steel products rather than chartering cargo space from shipping companies.
Therefore, U.S. Steel founded the Isthmian Steamship Company for the stated reason to mitigate the costs of shipping U.S. Steel’s freight. The company was...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-us-steel-owned-an-in-house-shipping-company
A recent FreightWaves Classics article provided an overview of J.P. Morgan’s activities in the U.S. railroad industry. This article will provide an overview of Morgan’s attempts to create an ocean shipping trust.
J.P. Morgan. (Photo: biography.com)Founding the IMM
The shipping industry was prosperous in the late 19th century; this led some to attempt to create a trust or monopoly that would control major U.S. shipping companies. None of the efforts during the 1890s were successful, however....
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-jp-morgan-sought-a-trans-atlantic-monopoly
It’s chaos at the ports right now. Ocean shipping is experiencing unprecedented delays that are costing shippers thousands of dollars per container per day and could run deep into 2023. Container shipping, dry bulk, liquefied natural gas — it doesn’t matter how or what companies are shipping because rates are spiking across the board.
With no end to the messy situation in sight, knowing when delays will happen becomes more important than ever for carriers. With that in mind, supply chain...
Two of China’s main ports are preparing for the arrival of Typhoon Chanthu, which dumped heavy rain in the northern Philippines Thursday night and Friday. The powerful storm is headed toward Taiwan and the mainland China coast.
Related: Oh no, not Ningbo! COVID case shuts down container terminal
China’s Maritime Safety Administration has issued a warning for Fujian province, where Xiamen Port is located, asking ships’ crews to adjust navigation plans and leave typhoon-affected waters. The Ningbo...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/china-ports-bracing-for-super-typhoon-chanthu
As most people are aware, the Suez Canal was blocked earlier this year for six days (March 23-29). According to the Suez Canal Authority, which maintains and operates the waterway, the canal has closed five times since it opened for navigation in 1869. Interestingly, the Panama Canal has never been blocked, and has only been closed for a day. That occurred in 1989, when U.S. military forces staged an assault in Panama to depose the country’s leader, Manuel Noriega.
A shortcut to the Orient
The...
The current situation at most U.S. ports is historic in many ways and has and is being covered by FreightWaves’ journalists and market experts. Accumulating supply side disruptions are keeping upward pressure on ocean container rates, while already heightened levels of import demand have overwhelmed a number of the ports. Import volume records continue to be broken almost weekly.
The influx of imports has produced instances of 20-plus vessels waiting for a berth at numerous U.S. ports. The...
The port of Oakland, California was the first important port on the West Coast of the United States. While it is overshadowed today in terms of volume by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, it is the third key gateway on the West Coast. Moreover, it handles 99% of the containers that move through northern California.
Early history
The estuary that the Port of Oakland was constructed on and around was originally only 500 feet wide and had a depth of only 2 feet at low tide. Oakland was...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-port-of-oakland-is-an-economic-engine
The port today
The Port of Baltimore is closer to the Midwest than any other East Coast port and is also within an overnight drive of one-third of the nation’s population. In addition, the Port of Baltimore is one of only four ports on the Eastern Seaboard with both a channel and container berth that are at least 50-feet deep. Therefore it can accommodate some of the largest container ships in the world. About five years ago, on July 19, 2016, the Ever Lambent, a Taiwanese-flagged cargo-carrier,...
https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/freightwaves-classics-port-of-baltimore-active-for-300-years